At its September Board meeting, FSA members have voted in favour of the publishing of an annual report on food standards, to be launched in 2022.

FSA members discussed topics ranging from genome editing to modernising how FSA carries out inspections in abattoirs.

The report, to be written jointly with Food Standards Scotland (FSS), will aim to provide an opportunity for FSA and FSS to set out ‘the state of the nation’s plate’, to examine whether food standards in the UK are being maintained, are falling, or improving. FSA said that it will cover issues of “particular or developing interest to consumers.”

FSA Chair Professor Susan Jebb said that she hoped the publication would become a “go-to report for anyone wanting to get a sense of food standards in the UK.”

Similarly, the Board also welcomed the publication of the National Food Strategy and its recommendations for the FSA but cautioned that some of those recommendations would require legislative powers and resources which the FSA did not currently have. The chair concluded that a forthcoming food White Paper from Defra was “a real opportunity” and the FSA wanted to be involved in that conversation.